A third of British workers think it is all right to pull a sickie - and the top reason for doing so is because they are hungover, says research published today.

People living in Yorkshire, Humberside and the South West are more tempted to phone in sick after a boozy night (73 per cent) with the North figure coming in at 60 per cent.

But the research, carried out by Crown Computing, also showed that more than half of people would be less likely to skive if their pay was being docked. A third of people would be less likely to take a day off if they could work more flexibly and 40 per cent would think again if they knew their company was keeping a record of their absences.